Deacon Keith Fournier writes: In 1996, on the Feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ (Corpus Christi), I was ordained to the Order of Deacon in the Catholic Church. When I lay prostrate on the floor that day in preparation for the imposition of the hands of my Bishop and the reception of the Book of the Gospels, I knew my life would never be the same. My ordination created a mark on my soul as our theology... Read more
From the Associated Press: Pope Francis marked his first month as pope on Saturday by naming nine high-ranking prelates from around the globe to a permanent advisory group to help him run the Catholic Church and study a reform of the Vatican bureaucracy — a bombshell announcement that indicates he intends a major shift in how the papacy should function. The panel includes only one current Vatican official; the rest are cardinals and a monsignor from Europe, Africa, North and... Read more
The Wall Street Journal has just published an e-book on the papal election, and there’s a fascinating excerpt in today’s paper: On March 5, after a long day of speeches at the Congregation, a group of cardinals arrived at the Pontifical North American College under the cover of night and were directed through long quiet corridors to a pair of double doors, upholstered in crimson leather. On the other side was the Red Room. Named after a Vatican drawing room... Read more
I don’t know what to make of a world in which I exclaim, “Oh no! Jonathan Winters died!” and most of the people in the office reply: “Who?” I’m getting old. The man was a tortured genius who battled depression and alcoholism. But he was blessed with a boundless imagination. From his obit: Jonathan Winters, the cherub-faced comedian whose breakneck improvisations and misfit characters inspired the likes of Robin Williams and Jim Carrey, has died. He was 87. The Ohio native died Thursday... Read more
While the shocking details of the Kermit Gosnell trial continue to seep out — and the national media averts its gaze — people are asking how it happened in the first place. NARAL has a convenient answer: So why did women go to his clinic? Why not choose a legitimate, reputable provider of abortion care? During a Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee hearing on proposed abortion regulation bills, Tyhisha Hudson, a woman who had obtained an abortion at Gosnell’s... Read more
From Sunday: Catholic Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit said on Sunday that Catholics who support gay marriage yet take the sacrament of Communion are contradicting themselves, echoing recent calls from a religious scholar for supporters of gay marriage to withdraw from taking the Eucharist. According to the Detroit Free Press, Archbishop Vigneron said that Catholics who support gay marriage “deny the revelation Christ entrusted to the church.” “This sort of behavior would result in publicly renouncing one’s integrity and logically bring shame for... Read more
John Thavis takes note: Cardinal Walter Kasper has an important piece in today’s Osservatore Romano, saying that Pope Francis, with his focus on poverty and social justice issues, has launched a new phase of implementation of the Second Vatican Council. Cardinal Kasper makes a strong argument that the council’s journey of renewal is not over and that the decades of discussion over its teachings should lead to new “practical consequences.” Pope Francis, he said, has pointed the way with his emphasis... Read more
Some insight into the pope’s mindset from Fr. Roger Landry in the National Catholic Register: The reform of the Church already evident in the words and witness of Pope Francis may be starting, but it won’t be stopping at the revamping of the Vatican Curia and the renewal of the clergy. It also will involve a thorough reform of the laity, since some of the cancers the cardinals elected him to confront in Rome have metastasized throughout Christ’s mystical body.... Read more
This is some sage advice from a Lutheran minister in First Things: First: Sheep have teeth and some of them bite. Try not to internalize it or take it personally. Some of them will bite any shepherd and you are merely the latest target of convenience. Treat them respectfully but cautiously, remembering what you share with them in baptism. But to avoid damage to your own soul, try to imagine how you would minister to them if they actually liked you,... Read more
A couple years ago, when he was a mere seminarian, my blog neighbor Fr. Michael Duffy wrote passionately about how the collar is “yoke and witness” to his life and his vocation. Now another priest, Father Chris Pietraszko, has sounded a similar chord, and I think it’s something people need to be reminded of: This is WHY I wear a collar: Some priests have done harm to the Church through sin, while wearing that collar. And thus have added a very negative... Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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